Filipinos remember Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil and Alice Guillermo

Filipinos poured out their tributes to Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil and Alice Guillermo, two important female figures who have recently passed away. (Prof. Alice Guillermo’s photo by Arkibong Bayan)(Artwork by Uela Altar-Badayos)

The esteemed UP professor became a recipient of the Japan Foundation Fellowship Grant in 1991, the Palanca Award for her essay “Ang Kaisipang Filipino Batay sa Sining Biswal” in 1979 and the Art Criticism Award from the Art Association of the Philippines in 1976.

Guillermo graduated magna cum laude with an educational degree at the College of the Holy Spirit Manila, formerly the College of the Holy Ghost, in 1957.

She took up her master’s degree at UP and then attended the Universite d’Aix-Marseille in France through a scholarship grant.

Throughout her career, Guillermo wrote numerous articles and reviews for publications such as Archipelago, WE Forum and Who. She had also published many notable books back then, which include Social Realism in the Philippines (1987) and Images of Change (1988), and co-authored From Anito to Assemblage (1990).

The journalist and historian

Nakpil’s legacy encompasses many generations, spanning the turbulent World War II era until her remaining years as Chitang Nakpil or the “Grand Old Lady of Public History.”

According to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, where Nakpil was chairperson for 1967-1971, the historian died peacefully at 1 am on Monday.

In its tribute, it used the painting of National Artist Vicente Manansala that was also featured in Nakpil’s autobiography Myself, Elsewhere in 2006.

She was initially known as a journalist way back in 1946, at a time when female reporters were not yet so popular, during which she wrote for national newspapers such as the Manila Chronicle, Weekly Women’s Magazine and Malaya.

Nakpil has published influential books such as Woman Enough and Other Essays, 1963, The Rice Conspiracy, 1990 and Heroes and Villains in 2010.